WASHINGTON – Democratic divisions in Congress stalled President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul Thursday, with one frustrated senator urging his colleagues to move faster and a member of the House leadership suggesting lawmakers cancel their August vacation to finish a bill.

“It’s time for them to fish or cut bait,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said of members of the Senate Finance Committee, which has struggled to come up with a bipartisan bill to fulfill Obama’s goal of expanding coverage to millions who lack it and containing rising costs.

Harkin said the panel has waited too long and should push out a bill with as much support as it can get.

The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, hinted it would be tough to complete the work before August.

“Count the days,” he said. “Either we’re going to go into overtime or face the prospect of doing it after August.”

In the House, Democratic leaders struggled to win over rebellious moderates and conservative rank-and-file party members who are demanding changes to the bill. The dispute has forced Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to postpone work on the legislation for three straight days while he negotiates.

Waxman’s committee is the last of three House panels trying to finish the legislation.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the third-ranking House Democrat, said a Thursday morning, 90-minute meeting of the leadership was particularly contentious. He said lawmakers should abandon plans for their monthlong break if the House hasn’t passed a health care bill.

“We must stay here and get this thing done,” he said at a news conference. “I feel very strongly about that. … I think it will affect our standing with the American people if we don’t do this.”

Obama’s ambitious timetable of votes in the House and Senate before the August recess continues to slip.

The president traveled to Ohio Thursday to deliver a fresh appeal for revamping the nation’s $2.4 trillion system of providing medical care, part of his stepped-up, nearly daily campaign. At stake was a massive remake of the system that has been sought for decades – as well as the president’s clout.

Obama met Tuesday with moderate and conservative Democrats concerned about the expense of the $1.5 trillion, 10-year House bill, tax increases and the impact on rural health care and small businesses.

On Thursday, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus said they requested a meeting with Obama after watching the president negotiate with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

“We felt it was important that more than one voice be heard,” said Donna Christensen, the congressional delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands who is leading the caucus’ health care efforts. “When we hear phrases like squeezing more savings out of the system … we’re concerned that what may be taken out will be provisions that are critical to our communities.”

The mostly liberal black caucus wants to make sure that any reform retains core provisions such as a public health insurance option that guarantees coverage for everyone.

“We don’t want to see them negotiated or eroded away,” said Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill.

Rounding up Democratic votes is crucial for the leadership as Republicans are certain to oppose the legislation.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor complained Thursday that too much of the burden of bankrolling a new health care system would fall on small businesses at a time when job creation is virtually nonexistent.

At the same time, the Virginia Republican said he doubts that a version of the plan in the House can win passage before members of Congress leave for their August recess. “If they’re going to get this passed next week, it’s going to have to be a changed bill,” he said.

Cantor and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who is acting chairman of a Senate committee that has a key role in shaping the legislation, appeared on morning network news shows. Dodd said Congress must “stick with this.” Senior White House adviser David Axelrod reiterated Obama’s plea for lawmakers to act now.

“The bottom line here is right now health care premiums have doubled over the last decade. Out-of-pocket costs up by a third,” he said. “Health care costs are growing three times the rate of wages.”

“It’s an unsustainable path,” Axelrod added, “and the government is being crunched by it, businesses are being crushed by it. We have to respond.”

Cantor and Dodd were interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show and Axelrod appeared on CBS’s “The Early Show.”